The Ties that Bind
by Astrid16
Summary: The Preeminent may have been defeated, but the ninja still face several challenges as their reputation as heroes is called into question. As startling secrets from Jay's past begin to surface and the ninja find themselves branded as criminals, it seems as though Destiny itself is against them- and Garmadon, who realizes that the dark days of his past may not be over just yet...
1. Red

**Red**

* * *

When Garmadon awakened on a cold slab of stone, he knew he must be dead.

Silence. All around him, bathed in a grayish light. Apprehensive silence. He sat upright tentatively, feeling the cool rock beneath him. Smooth and dry. He looked down as he slid his feet to the floor, noting his attire. Sturdy sandals. A dark, comfortable one-piece garment, tied around the waist by a woven crimson rope. He was confused for a moment, but quickly remembered what had happened to his original clothes.

"Lloyd," he murmured, surprised by the bite in his voice. The single word echoed in the long cavern, weaker with each repeat. _Lloyd…Lloyd…_

He smoothed back his hair with a wrinkled hand and took a step forward. Then another. _Where am I going?_ he wondered, glancing around. He knew this place by heart- the Underworld. His domain, once upon a time. When he'd been evil, poisoned by the Great Devourer. _I can go anywhere,_ he decided at last, sighing heavily. _I can travel the entire Underworld a thousand times, have a friendly chat over tea with every dead man down here. I have all of eternity, after all._

 _Tea. Bah._ Garmadon kicked a loose pebble, growling loudly. _Curse you, Wu. When I get my hands around your tea-loving, traitorous excuse for a neck, I'm gonna…_

He clenched his hands, stifling his frustration. What was wrong with him? He breathed deeply, releasing the tension in his fingers. He needed to clear his head.

And so he walked from this large, empty cavern into the next, where he heard the splash of water. He knelt beside the pool- fed by an underground stream- and drank deeply. When he'd had his fill, he splashed his face, letting the cold water trickle down his collarbone. That was better. The bitterness was gone, at least for now. He sighed, planting his palms on the edge of the water.

There was a scratch and a hiss to his left, and he jerked his head up. A spykor hung from the cavern's ceiling, watching him with inquisitive eyes. Its eight legs quivered, excited, or perhaps terrified: there was a stranger in its home.

"You don't get many visitors out here, I'm sure," Garmadon said. The spider-like creature leaped at the sound of his voice and scrabbled into the stalactites, out of sight.

 _Well, then! I was just trying to be friendly, you overgrown…_

Garmadon splashed his face again. _Inhale. Exhale. Like Father taught you. Resist the bitterness._ He smiled ruefully. The venom was gone from his body, of course, but the mantra from his childhood remained firm in his mind. _Inhale. Exhale. Resist the bitterness._

 _Why bitterness?_ Garmadon remembered asking his father many years ago. _Just call it what it is, Father: evil. I'm evil._

 _Because bitterness is the root of all evil, Garmadon. Believing you have been wronged, that you don't have all that you deserve. It makes you bitter. And bitter men say- and do- evil things._

 _The Great Devourer's venom is bitter poison, my son. But if you let the bitterness go, it will have no control over you. Now. Back to work. Inhale…_

Garmadon closed his eyes, releasing his breath slowly through his nose. _This isn't normal,_ he thought. _I haven't felt this way since before I was healed of the venom._ He inhaled, opening his eyes, staring at his reflection in the pool. Gray hair. A round face; gentle angles, like a pebble beaten smooth by the ocean surf.

 _Father always said I looked like Mother,_ he thought, hand hovering over the water. _I wish I could have known her better. They…_ The blood drained from his face, and he jerked back, panting.

 _No…_ His hands scrambled for purchase on the rough ground, and he leaned over the pool again, face inches from the water. _No…no, no…_

His irises were _red_.

* * *

Jay lived for moments like this.

He crouched on the sidewalk in the shadow of a popular pizza joint downtown, cleverly named the Pizzaz Pizzeria. Try saying that five times fast. On the other side of the road was Kai, similarly positioned on the corner between a tourist shop and a high-end seafood restaurant. The fire ninja would have been completely invisible in the darkness, if not for the silver glint of his sword, held at his side.

The road was deserted at this late hour. _Thank goodness,_ Jay thought, eyes on the windows of a barber shop further down the road- that's where Zane was hiding. _We look pretty shady right now._

 _Heh. Shady. Like…it's dark out. Cole would appreciate that pun._

He shook his head. _Focus. This is a serious mission. I can't mess it up._ Rummaging in his pocket, he whipped out a picture, examining it for the gajillionth time: a mug shot of the guy they were waiting for, a crime boss who went by the name Chuck. A long scar ran down his face. Snakelike green eyes leered at the camera. He also had greased back, black hair. _Greased_. Who still did that?

 _Big crime bosses, apparently,_ thought Jay as he slid the picture back into his pocket. _Nothing says Public Enemy Number One like looking like you just popped out of an old black and white film._

Jay caught movement in the corner of his eye, and he jerked his head up. Kai was running down the center of the deserted street. _What in the…_

 _Right. Jay, you knucklehead,_ Jay berated himself, looking out at the barber shop. A high-power flashlight was clicking on and off- Zane's signal that Chuck was in the building.

Jay followed Kai as fast as he could, heart pounding wildly in his chest. _Stupid, stupid!_ He growled softly, a hand on his nunchucks in his belt. _Timing is everything, Jay. When Zane gave the signal, you were supposed to run_ immediately _. If this Chuck guy spots us, it's all over. Argh!_

He slipped into the doorway of the barber shop behind Kai- they had unlocked the door about fifteen minutes ago for this reason. He examined the place in a single sweep, watching for any movement.

There was a soft tap of metal against glass. Kai and Jay turned their heads simultaneously. Saw a dark silhouette crouched under the window.

Zane. His eyes glowed softly as he stood, approaching them silently. "Our suspect's in the back room," he whispered, confirming Jay's earlier suspicion. "Kai, I don't know about this…"

"What's wrong?" Kai asked, frowning. "You were all for the plan earlier."

"I know. But…something changed. The moment Chuck unlocked the back door, I felt something. I don't think it's safe anymore."

"Listen, buddy," Jay breathed, a hand on Zane's cold metal arm. "We can't call this off just 'cause you've got some jitters. We'll see this through to the end and put Chuck behind bars for good."

"But-"

"When Ninjago City's safe, we can argue all we want," Kai said, running his thumb along the edge of his sword. "But we've come too far to turn back now."

"He's right, Zane," Jay said. "Let's do this."

Hesitantly, Zane nodded. He set a hand over his pocket- where he kept his knives and shurikens. In the back room Jay heard some shuffling. A thump. There was definitely someone in there.

Kai held up three fingers. Then two. One. Finally he balled his hand into a fist, and they charged as one, using spinjitsu to break the door down.

"What- Hey! What's going on?" Bewildered green eyes stared at the three intruders.

"What's going on?" Kai repeated, approaching the man with his sword raised. "We're taking you in, Chuck. That's what. Are you gonna come quietly, or do you wanna fight?"

The man Chuck backed up, shakily holding up his hands. "Seriously, you guys. What's going on?"

Zane raised a hand, signaling for Kai to stand down. "You don't know?" he asked, eyes narrowed.

"Umm...no?" Chuck swallowed. "I was just coming back to the shop 'cause I forgot my keys. I own this place."

"A likely story," Kai scoffed. "Come on Zane. Tie him up."

In the moment that Zane hesitated, the shelf behind Chuck began to glow green. Before Jay had time to warn the others, it tipped, boxes and other miscellaneous items toppling down on Chuck. The man cried out in surprise and pain, hands guarding his head. The three ninja stepped back to avoid getting hit by the wreckage.

"Heh. Sorry I'm late, guys," the shelf said, a green mist rising from it. "What did I miss?"

Jay paid the shelf no mind, instead pulling the mug shot from his pocket. "It was the wrong guy," he murmured.

The mist fled the shelf, materializing into a man. "What?" Cole asked, his greenish features creased in a confused frown. He examined the picture, as did Zane and Kai. Then he glanced at their perpetrator, unconscious under the fallen shelf.

"I could have sworn this was him," Jay said. "Look. His hair's even greased back."

"He could be Chuck's brother," Kai agreed. "But this is definitely not Chuck. He doesn't have that scar."

"I don't understand," Zane said, touching the man's face. "He's not wearing makeup. There's no scar."

"But our informant said that _Chuck_ would be here tonight," Kai said.

"Maybe this really is Chuck's brother," Jay suggested.

"No," Cole said. "I could have sworn Nya said Chuck had no relatives in the city. Maybe we-"

"Guys," Nya spoke into their coms. "I just received another anonymous tip from our guy. He says the building's rigged to blow. If you're still in there, get out!"

"Let's go," Zane said, rushing to rescue not-Chuck. Jay and Kai followed.

"What's going on?" Cole asked.

Jay paused. _Right. Cole can't use a com as a ghost._

"The building's gonna explode," Kai said simply, helping Zane lift the shelf. Jay carefully pulled the trapped man free, and his teammates let the shelf fall again.

Without a word Cole possessed the back door and opened it for his companions. "Let's make sure no one else is around when this building explodes- if it even will. Then we'll head back to the Bounty. We need to talk to Nya and discuss what just happened."

"And then what?" Kai asked as he and Jay hurriedly carried the man from the building.

Cole slammed the door shut, then left it to sprint beside Zane in human form. His face was grim. "And then we track down the guy responsible for this mess."

* * *

 **Man, my heart's beating super fast, I am _so_ excited. This story is going to be awesome. **

**So!** **Kind of like Overlord's Revenge, this is a headcannon fic for what I predict will happen in the upcoming season. Sans pirates. Ugh. Unless they're played by Colin O'Donoghue, I hate pirates. So this fic will blessedly be talking parrot and peg-leg free.**

 **Also, this fic will have a lighter plot! It'll still be intense, but it will definitely won't be drifting into almost M-rated waters like True Grit. So, hooray for that...**

 **Coming up soon: Pixane and Jaya fluff. Perhaps Kailor, if people request it. And, of course, Ronin will make an appearance. Kira Vulpes got me more excited for that guy's character than I thought I would be. And Morro! Gosh, I wish I could just tell you all that I have planned. XD**

 **A quick shoutout to Kira- without her, this story probably wouldn't have ever been written. She came up with maybe half of the summary as well. Gosh, Kira, I can't say thank you enough for all your help.**

 **(::) Here's some cookies. Have a good day!**


	2. Nagisa

**Hello! Sorry about the wait. I should have warned you sooner that this story would not be updated very often. A bunch of things started piling up in my life and I have had literally no time to relax. Seriously. It's almost three in the morning, and I have to wake up early tomorrow to run errands out of town. But I really wanted to get this done!**

* * *

 **Nagisa**

* * *

The barber shop did indeed blow up.

Jay watched it from the screen in the bridge, uncharacteristically quiet.

"We should have at least tried to disarm the bomb," Kai said.

"No." Cole sat back in his chair, dark brows deeply furrowed. "We didn't know where the bomb was, or if it was even there. Trying to find it without time and proper equipment would have been suicide."

"Cole's right," Nya sighed, turning off the screen with her remote. "You did all that you could. No one was injured. That's what matters."

"Yeah," Kai admitted, "but now what are we supposed to do?" He pointed over his shoulder. "We've got this Chuck guy locked in the bunk room, sleeping off the head trauma Cole gave him."

"What are you saying?" Cole asked defensively.

"He's saying that we could be all in deep trouble," Zane spoke for the first time. He stood behind Jay's chair, arms crossed, mechanical features troubled. "If anyone figures out that we had a part in this…barber shop fiasco, we could be prosecuted."

"Prosecuted?" Kai snorted. "Of what?"

"Breaking and entering," Nya said quietly. "Arson. Assault. Kidnapping. The list could go on."

"They'd never put us in jail," Jay said, flicking his wrist. As if Nya's words were a fly that could be swatted. "I mean, come on. We're the _ninja_."

"I agree," Cole said. "If we go to the authorities right now and explain what happened, I'm sure that in light of our helpful past, they'll understand."

"But then we lose the trust of the people," Kai said. "Even if we manage to explain ourselves and escape a prison sentence, who's to stop the press from spreading bad rumors about us?"

"I'm afraid you may be right," Zane admitted. "I think we were set up by someone who wants us to lose the public's favor. If we come clean, that won't stop the press from taking the story and possibly twisting it- or shedding some doubt on our motives."

"And whoever actually did this- the bomb planting, the false information about Chuck and the barber shop- will come at us again, I'm sure," Nya added.

"What if we're making a big deal out of nothing?" Jay said. "Maybe the unconscious guy sleeping in our bunk room is actually Chuck, and the bomb was his attempt to get rid of us because we were getting too close."

"But the scar," Zane said.

"The picture was falsified to confuse us," Jay countered. "I'll bet one of Chuck's lackeys was the informant that tipped us off about the barber shop in the first place." He paused. "By the way, Nya, did you trace those calls?"

"Yes." Nya slid a sheet of paper to him. "Pay phones. He called from a different phone every time, each in the busiest sections of town. No way to track him."

"Security cameras?" Cole suggested.

"Last I checked, poking around other peoples' cameras was illegal…" Nya smiled impishly. "But I did check around a little, to see if anybody in the vicinity of those pay phones had cameras set up- because then we could at least ask permission for a quick peek."

"No good?"

"No good. There was a burger place with a camera out front, but needless to say it was focused on the entrance, not the phone box thirty feet away."

"Man…" Jay whistled. "Our guy is slippery."

Kai cleared his throat. "Still not hearing any solutions to our problem."

"Which is what?"

"That if there were any eyewitnesses last night, we could be in deep trouble if we don't turn ourselves in and explain everything."

"But there were no eyewitnesses," Zane said. "Remember, I scanned the area before we ran, to make sure no one would be harmed by the bomb."

Cole leaned forward, stroking his chin. His ghostly green face darkened as he considered their options. "Staying quiet will make us look more guilty in the long run- _if_ the authorities find out we were there. But if we turn ourselves in, as Kai suggested, there's about a hundred and ten percent chance that we'll have a big red target painted on our chests for the media to throw darts at anyways. We don't have the kind of money to bribe them into silence."

The bridge was quiet as the five young adults came to grips with these unpleasant realities.

"Let's just catch this guy," Jay said. "Once we have the real culprit, we won't have to worry about the media. We-"

The phone rang, cutting Jay off. Nya glanced at the others worriedly, then picked it up. "Ninja headquarters," she said tentatively. "How may we help you?" Only a few seconds later she gasped, scrambling for a sheet of paper and a pen. She scribbled furiously. After several long moments in which none of the boys moved, Nya pulled the receiver from her face, frowning at it.

"He hung up," she said helplessly.

"Was that the informant?" Cole asked.

"Yeah." Nya glanced at her notes. "He says that there's about to be a robbery at the Rogers Convenience Store."

"Here we go again," Kai sighed. "I say we ignore the call."

"But what if it really is about to happen?" Cole asked. "We should be there to stop it."

"There _won't_ be a robbery," Kai argued. "It'll be just like the barber shop again. Except after sunup, so when we get in trouble there will be witnesses."

Cole stood from his chair. "The rest of you can stay if you want. But I'm going."

"Cole," Zane tried to reason with him. "If this is as Kai suspects, you could be putting us all in danger."

"But if this is a real call, then I need to help," Cole countered. A crooked grin lit up his face. "Relax. I'm a ghost. They won't see me unless I want them to. Besides. If this is another trap, I'm prepared for it this time."

Reluctantly Zane nodded. "All right," he said.

"Don't worry," Jay said. "We'll be there in an instant if you run into trouble."

Cole winked. "I'm counting on it."

* * *

Once the initial shock wore off, Garmadon left the cavern with the pool, in search of other inhabitants of this accursed land. He needed to figure out what had happened to him to cause this…whatever was making his eyes red. And was there a way to stop it?

Of course, he already knew what had made his eyes red. It was the same poison that had caused his bitterness to return.

The Great Devourer's venom.

He'd assumed that it had all been purged from his blood when his son harnessed the First Spinjitsu Master's powers and defeated the Overlord.

"Apparently not," he grumbled. "Thanks a lot, _Lloyd_."

Again, Lloyd's voice echoed off the dark stones of the immense cavern, a little more distorted with each passing. Garmadon growled under his breath and continued walking at a brisk pace.

"…Hello?" a tentative, feminine voice called out. Garmadon turned quickly as the _hello_ echoed around his ears. Dizzying.

 _Who was that?_ Garmadon wondered, more relieved than afraid. "Come out here," he said. "I won't hurt you."

A silhouette stepped from the shadows, approaching Garmadon. Slowly at first. But when Garmadon made no move to threaten her, she picked up her pace.

It wasn't until she came close that Garmadon recognized her, and she him. The woman skidded to a halt less than ten paces from him, gasping. Garmadon backed up a step.

"Garmadon?" she whispered, blue eyes round in the darkness.

"…Nagisa," Garmadon replied incredulously. Regaining his composure, he rushed to meet Ninjago's Head Writer. "I don't understand. What are you doing here? Cloud Kingdom-"

"Cloud Kingdom," Nagisa interrupted, "has fallen."

"What?" A bead of perspiration formed on Garmadon's temple. "How? Are you all right?"

 _Stupid question. We're in the_ _Underworld, after all..._

Nagisa looked away, the weight in her deep eyes betraying her well-hidden old age. Sure, her body had been immortally young during her time in Cloud Kingdom. But no powers in all of Ninjago could change the way thousands of years weighed a person's spirit. Nagisa was no exception.

"My husband," she whispered at last. "I…I should have seen it sooner. But even after I realized what was going on, I still messed up. Yang-"

" _Yang?_ " Garmadon grimaced as the name bounced off the stone walls. He lowered his voice. "What happened?"

"I always forget that you had been banished here before it happened. Of course you wouldn't have known." Nagisa finally met his eyes. So dark, so full of pain. Unlike the last time he'd seen her, bursting with joy as she announced that she and her husband were going to have a baby.

"Twenty years ago," she said. "Fenwick did it twenty years ago. They… Yang Cursed all the other Head Writers."

"Of course," Garmadon sighed. In hindsight, it was no surprise that Yang had teamed up with that traitorous Fenwick. _What a formidable pair. One Writes, the other Curses. I should have seen this coming._

"What about you?" Garmadon asked. "Surely Fenwick would not allow you to be Cursed- you're his _wife!_ "

Nagisa laughed dryly. "Well then. I guess I was just imagining those twenty long years trapped in the Cursed Realm." She paused, lip quivering. "Twenty years without my son."

"What about your son?" Garmadon asked, trying to get her mind off of her husband's betrayal. "So it was a boy after all, as Seran predicted? Where is he?"

Nagisa managed a shaky smile, her true age becoming more pronounced. Like those thousands of years had caught up with her in a few short moments. "Cursed with me. And you. And the rest of the Head Writers." She raised her pale hand, gesturing to the walls around them. "Trapped…in another prison. Forever."

Garmadon caught her hand. "Let's go find him," he said. "Together. What's your son's name?"

Nagisa tucked a strand of auburn hair behind her ear with her free hand, hesitating. "…Morro," she said at last. "His name is Morro."

* * *

 **No, of _course_ I didn't choose Nagisa because Clannad is my favorite anime... ;) Lol. My other name choice was Senae, which I guess wasn't much better. (Hey, she'd be a good baker, I promise. No deadly rainbow bread.) Hahahahahaaaa. Ahhh I need to go to bed. **

**Nagisa though! Gah, she's what has me so excited about this story. She's the reason I'm motivated to write it. Her and her son. That sweet woman. Her story is so interesting. But we'll get into that later. ;)**

 **So I don't know when I'll update next. It'll be a few weeks I think. I'm having difficulty finding time to sit down and take a breath, let alone use my brain to write anything decent. Gah. Well, thank you all so much for your lovely reviews! It was a fantastic way to kickstart the story. I hope that your support will continue. Have a good day! I'll probably update True Grit on Tuesday morning/afternoon. Probably. I just can't tell anymore what my schedule will be like. X'D Bye!**


	3. of Rain and Wind

**What's this strange update you've received in your inbox for a story you had no idea you were following?**

 **Hey, guys! I'm really sorry about that ridiculously long absence. I'll try not to let that happen again. I'm gonna try to update this story every other Tuesday from now on. :)**

 **In the meantime, I'd recommend going back and reading the first two chapters before you dive into this one, to make sure everyone's on the same page. It's been a while, and even I had to go back a few times to remember some details...**

* * *

 **of Rain and Wind**

* * *

 _Rain,_ Cole thought, dread filling him as he glanced up at the dark clouds. _Of_ course _it's gonna rain._ For a brief moment he considered returning to the Bounty before the deluge began. If that rainwater touched him… Well, Cole didn't really care to know what would happen, since the Cursed Realm had been destroyed.

The Rogers Convenience Store came into view as Cole floated invisibly around a corner. He breathed a sigh of relief and phased through the store's wall, traveling through a shelf of canned goods. He floated into the aisle and landed on his feet. The entire trip from the Bounty, parked just outside of town, to the store had taken him just over a minute. And he wasn't even breathless.

 _Just one of the many advantages of being a ghost,_ Cole thought dryly, wandering into another part of the store. It was just after opening hours, and except for a couple employees, the place was empty.

 _So…I guess I should just wait?_ Cole paused at the entrance to the store and looked outside. It wasn't raining yet. If there was really going to be a robbery, it had better happen soon, or he'd be stuck here until one of his teammates came to pick him up.

…Now that Cole thought of it, early morning was a strange time for a robbery. Wouldn't the registers be mostly empty?

And why did petty theft merit the attention of the Ninja- or their informant? These little crimes were police business. Now, Skulkin, Serpentine, and Overlord attacks? _Those_ Cole could handle.

 _Maybe there's more to this robbery than meets the eye,_ Cole thought.

Cole wondered if he was beginning to develop Zane's sixth sense, because at that moment, every fiber of his ghostly being tingled. He felt like he was being watched. But that was impossible: he was invisible. All the same, he glanced over his shoulder. There was a security camera overhead. Could it see him? _Impossible._

But he couldn't quell his doubts, and he stepped behind a shelf to hide himself from its view.

Something was very, very wrong.

"Did ya hear the news this morning?" one employee, a young man with a rock band T-shirt on under his apron, asked the lady running the register.

"Yeah," the woman said, not looking up from her phone.

"Man, it's enough to give me the creeps." He rested his elbow on the counter. "I'll bet it's the red one that started it. Y'know, the explosion."

"Mhmm," the woman replied absently.

The man stood up straight. "You're not worried at all? They're like…terrorists now. Who knows what they're doing to that poor barber right now." He leaned across the counter. "Dude. We could be next."

"And if I'm lucky they'll put me out of my misery," the woman sighed. "Aren't you supposed to be in the back right now doing inventory? Seriously. Get to work."

The man grumbled, but turned and walked right past the stunned Cole, shoving open the back door.

 _Was he talking about us?_ Cole wondered. It only made sense. An explosion, a kidnapped barber…

This was bad. Cole needed to warn the others. He looked outside and frowned. The rain had begun at last: a slow drizzle that hardly even wetted the sidewalk. Maybe he could make it back to the Bounty before-

There was a loud peal of thunder, and suddenly the rain was falling in thick sheets.

 _You've gotta be kidding me…_ Cole sat on the floor with a quiet sigh, cursing his luck. _What are the chances of this happening to me today, of all days? Seriously._

A customer hastened into the store, ringing the bell above the door. The woman at the register looked up and smiled politely, pocketing her phone.

The customer- an older man with scruffy eyebrows and a large girth- nodded to the employee and grabbed a shopping basket. He wandered down an aisle on the other side of the small store.

Cole eyed the man until he was out of sight. Could that be the robber? It didn't seem likely.

 _My friends are probably worried sick,_ Cole realized. No sign of any robbery on the news, and a sudden rainstorm… Would they come looking for him, or would they wait a little longer and see what would happen?

"Need a hand, old friend?" a familiar voice whispered next to Cole. He jumped to his feet and looked around. No one was there.

"Don't panic," the voice continued, perhaps a few paces behind him. "Follow my voice. Hurry."

Cole hesitated. What if this was a trap?

"If I were you, I'd get our of range of those cameras. They've got infrared vision."

"What?" Cole whispered, glancing nervously at the camera before following the voice further down the aisle. He hoped the radio, playing some oldies station, was loud enough to mute their conversation. "Who are you?"

A tall figure took shape before him. Cole took a step back, staring up into the red eyes of the Anacondrai general.

"…Pythor?"

"In the flesh," the white snake whispered, drawing back his hood. "Quickly now. Hop into this coin. I'll stick you in my pocket, and you should be safe from the rain. We must get out of here as soon as that door reopens."

"But…how can you see me?" Cole asked.

Pythor held up a small, rectangular device with a screen. He offered Cole a toothy grin. "The bad guys aren't the only ones with the fancy gadgets," he said.

Cole allowed his form to become visible. He glanced over his shoulder again. They were far enough back that the cashier could not see them. "What's going on?" he asked.

Pythor hesitated. "I'm not too certain myself," he admitted. "But please trust me. I'm on your side."

"And which side do you think we're on, exactly?" After a pause something clicked in Cole's mind, and Cole pointed accusingly at the snake. "You're our mysterious informant?"

"I- Well…"

"So you deliberately put our reputations on the line with that call about Chuck?"

"Of course not!" Pythor snapped, then caught himself and lowered his voice. "No, Cole. I am truly sorry about that misunderstanding. I thought it was Chuck." He forced his next words out with considerable difficulty. "I…suppose I was wrong."

"And what about this robbery that's supposed to be going down right now?"

Pythor looked down.

Cole scoffed and turned away, letting his body fade back into transparency.

"Wait, please," Pythor pleaded. "An explanation for my actions is in order, yes. But I cannot talk here. Please. Allow me to take you back to the Bounty in this coin, and I can explain to everyone at once. It's not safe here."

Cole turned back, eyes narrowed. "How do I know you're not just gonna toss that coin into a puddle when we get outside?"

"I won't," Pythor swore. "On my honor as an Anacondrai, you will be safe with me."

Cole slowly allowed himself to become visible again.

Pythor was unmistakably relieved as he held out the coin. "Let's get out of here," he said. "I don't know about you, but I have a strong feeling that we are being watched…"

* * *

There was no way to tell time in the Underworld, but Garmadon assumed that several days must have passed in the time that they searched for Nagisa's son.

 _Morro. Nagisa's son._ The thought would have made Garmadon chuckle if he had any humor left in him. Wu's former student was the polar opposite of Nagisa; both in looks and personality. Not to mention, Garmadon had never known that Nagisa was an Elemental Master. _Are we sure we're talking about the same Morro here?_ But Garmadon didn't truly doubt her: Nagisa was many things, but a liar was not one of them. Unlike her husband…

Bah. Garmadon tried not to dwell on _that_ too much.

They spoke very little as they walked: Nagisa seemed uncomfortable recounting her time in the Cursed Realm, and Garmadon had no desire to narrate the mistakes he'd made while in Ninjago the past couple years since his cleansing of the venom.

"Cleansing. Ha," Garmadon grumbled bitterly.

"Pardon?" Nagisa asked, turning to him as they walked.

"Just talking to myself."

Nagisa let him go with an understanding nod and turned her deep, melancholy blue eyes to the road ahead of them.

Their current avenue was lit by a few crystals, glowing a pensive purple color. There were no people in sight.

"I still think it would be a good idea to search some of the busier areas," Garmadon said.

"No!" Nagisa said quickly, sounding horrified. She composed herself, looking at her bare feet. "Sorry. I'd rather not. Please. I don't think Morro would be somewhere with lots of people, anyways."

 _By the Elements,_ Garmadon swore. This was _not_ the same Nagisa that he'd once known. The old Nagisa had been a woman of great power: she was one of the sixteen Head Writers, after all. She had been in charge of recording Ninjago's history, conducting its present, and envisioning its future. Just as the other fifteen had done for their Realms.

That is, until the traitorous Fenwick and Yang Cursed them all.

Garmadon breathed deeply. _Inhale…exhale…release the bitterness._

"I'm sorry," Nagisa said. "I know I'm being secretive. But i-if you'd seen what I've seen- what I've done these past twenty years-"

Garmadon rested a hand on her shoulder, stopping her words. "I get it," he said. "In all honesty, there are some things I've done since our last meeting that I'd rather not tell, either."

Nagisa's smile was timid and fleeting. Soon she was staring at her feet again; her pensive, sad, and distant expression made her eyes look bigger than they really were.

For some reason this look gave Garmadon an inexplicable sense of deja vu. But why? Who had he seen before with such a unique mien?

 _I've known Nagisa for so long,_ he thought. _Perhaps I'm just remembering a similar face she'd made fifty years ago?_ He'd known Nagisa since his childhood days, when his father had still been alive. While Garmadon had grown up, and his father had grown old, Nagisa had stayed the same: immortal, powerful, and impossibly beautiful. _And much, much different than she is now, somehow. These twenty years seem to have harmed her more than that other thousand combined._

"Nagisa… I do have one question, if you don't mind," Garmadon said.

Nagisa answered hesitantly. "Um…yes?"

"What is- or, was- the Preeminent like?" Garmadon paused. "Of course, if the question is too uncomfortable-"

"No," Nagisa reassured him. "No, no. It's fine. Though it's…difficult…to describe the Preeminent succinctly."

"Well, we have all day." Garmadon meant it jokingly, but it came dry and sharp instead.

But Nagisa did not seem to mind his tone; she was too absorbed whatever images were occupying her mind.

"I'd rather _not_ spend all day talking about her…" Nagisa said. "But if you have a few questions, I could answer them now."

"All right." Garmadon thought for a moment. "Have you ever seen the Preeminent?"

Nagisa laughed breathlessly. "Yes," she said. "The Preeminent and I were acquainted."

"And…were you on friendly terms with her?"

Nagisa tilted her head toward him. "Is that a problem?"

"Well…she was the embodiment of the Cursed Realm. She was evil." Garmadon rubbed his wrist, barely suppressing a snarl. "She had me chained down there."

Nagisa stopped walking. Her eyebrows bunched, and she stared straight ahead.

"…Nagisa?" Garmadon finally asked.

"I never…" Nagisa cleared her throat. "I did not know you had been in the Cursed Realm with us."

Fair enough, Garmadon supposed. He hadn't seen many people during his time in the Cursed Realm. And this was the Underworld, after all: when they'd first found each other, she'd probably assumed him actually dead, not Cursed like herself.

"Were you chained like me?" Garmadon asked.

Nagisa shook her head. "No," she said, still sounding thoughtful, and a bit perturbed. "No, you're the only one I'm aware of…" She let out a breathy, humorless laugh. "There were some, of course, that were confined for instigating rebellions…and the gangs of course… But chains…"

"Rebellion?" Garmadon raised an eyebrow. "That implies that there is some-"

"Structure?" Nagisa finished for him. Garmadon noted how her eyes flitted downward after saying this.

"Sorry," she apologized, tucking a thick, wavy strand of auburn hair behind her ear. "That is a frequent question from newcomers in that Realm. Yes, there is order there. As you may know, the Cursed Realm is…was…a parallel universe. That is, it mirrors the other fourteen Realms, sans the Underworld. Not closely, but enough that, with a careful eye, you can see the similarities; particularly in the landscape and climate." Her lips turned up in a slight smile. "I noticed that Cursed people tended to migrate to areas much like their home Realm. And over the years, there has been much societal progress. Little villages, large cities. Commerce. There are some feuds, but they all agree on one thing."

"And what's that?" Garmadon found himself smiling a little, too. This was more like the chatterbox Writer that he used to know, and he didn't want her to stop now.

"They were all in the same boat," Nagisa explained. "They were all trapped, and though there were some feuds, as aforementioned, they were usually trivial, and at the end of the day they were all working together again to find a way out."

"The Cursed Realm was made for the worst criminals," Garmadon said. "But you make it sound like they're…"

"Oh, there were some terrible people there," Nagisa said. "But you must understand, you don't have to be a righteous person to Curse someone. An alarming percentage of the people there were like me. Banished there by a…a wicked person for their own gain."

She tapered off and was quiet for a moment. The only noise was the stony ground beneath their feet, and the distant echo of other dead people and their conversations in another cavern.

"They're all here now," Nagisa said softly. "The good and the bad. Trapped with us forever."

"Don't be so dramatic," Garmadon said- again, a bit harsher than intended, but- also again- Nagisa didn't seem to notice or mind. "You may not have been the Writer of the Underworld, but you know there are ways out of here."

"Only if someone pulls us out," Nagisa said dully. Her small hands traveled up her arms to hug herself. Her skin was covered in gooseflesh. "No one pulled me out of the Cursed Realm; why would anyone try again here?"

"Do you have any Ink?" Garmadon asked. "Scrolls?"

It was Nagisa's turn to sound angry. "If I did, do you really think I would be here while Fenwick and Yang are Writing the destinies of all sixteen Realms?" She pursed her lips, flushing. "S-sorry…"

"Nagisa, I swear…" Garmadon shook his head. "If you apologize one more time, I'm going to do something we'll both regret. None of this was your fault, or mine."

"You can't really believe that," Nagisa said, but her shoulders let up their tension a bit, and her mouth relaxed. "By the Scrolls, Garmadon. Of all the friends- or enemies- I could have encountered down here, I'm very glad that you were the first."

"And what am I?" After a few seconds he realized his question needed more clarification. "Friend, or enemy?"

Nagisa looked into his blood-red eyes, appearing as if she knew a great and terrible secret that she could not tell. "I guess it's up to Fenwick to decide," was all she said, and ducked to enter the next cavern.

With a sigh and a slight shake of the head, Garmadon followed. "There's one more…thing…" He tapered off at the sight before him.

A man stood near the far end of the moderately sized cavern, speaking with a pair of Skulkin. At this distance Garmadon could not hear their words, but the man sounded desperate.

Nagisa stood quietly beside Garmadon for several heartbeats. "Morro," she exhaled softly, and ran on silent feet across the cave. Garmadon followed close behind.

"…something," Morro was saying as Garmadon and Nagisa drew close behind him. He sounded frustrated, but he had enough sense to keep his words respectful; Skulkin were the keepers of the Underworld, and it did not bode well for those who got on their bad side. "Please. Can't we find some middle ground? I need-"

"You _need_ to keep your head on straight, pal," the shorter Skulkin said firmly, tapping his skull with a literally bony finger. "You think you're the first one to try and bribe your way out? Forget it. Your time is up. Go bother some other dead person."

"Yeah," the taller one intoned mockingly. He snickered. "Go bother some other dead person."

Garmadon cringed inwardly. The Skulkin had very little brain- an unfortunate side effect of being a skeleton. _Had I really once used these creatures to attempt to take over Ninjago? It's no wonder that I failed…_

"Wait!" Morro called as the two Skulkin lumbered through one of the many openings in the cavern, out of sight, chuckling.

"No!" With a cry of frustration Morro swung his arms and let out a burst of wind. The gust howled through the rocks, stirring up dust and shaking a few stalactites from the ceiling. They shattered against the hard ground; even more dust billowed, and Garmadon's eyes stung.

Finally, Nagisa spoke. "Morro," she said, voice hardly audible through the gale.

Abruptly the wind halted. As the dust settled, Morro whirled to face Nagisa. He dropped to one knee.

"My-" he began, but Nagisa hastily cut him off.

"Mother," she said. "Please…just call me Mother here."

Morro's brown eyes flitted from Nagisa to Garmadon, and he slowly nodded. "If that is what you wish," he said, and rose to his feet.

Standing at almost six feet, Morro was a man with a disciplined, sturdy body and dark hair. Garmadon noticed a fading streak of green in it, and he frowned.

Morro caught Garmadon staring and tucked it behind his ear so it was not so easy to see.

"What were you doing, Morro?" Nagisa asked.

Morro laughed dryly. "I was trying to get us out of here," he said. He looked at his open fist for a moment before clenching it. "Your plan to leave the Cursed Realm succeeded, I guess. But now we have another problem to contend with."

"Ah- It was not _my_ plan," Nagisa said. "It was the Preeminent's."

"Forgive my boldness, but you-"

"Morro…" Nagisa said lowly,

Morro blinked. "Sorry, Mother," he ventured at last.

"No." Nagisa pulled Morro into an embrace, which he returned hesitantly. "I'm the one at fault." She let him go shortly after and smiled. "We should find the other Writers," she said. "Particularly Qiang. He was the Underworld's Writer; he knows every way in and out of this Realm."

"If he knows every way out," Garmadon said, "then who's to say he hasn't done so already and left us behind?"

"He would not!" Morro and Nagisa said at once. Nagisa particularly seemed appalled by the suggestion.

"Qiang is very loyal to the Preeminent's cause," Morro said. "He would not abandon us."

"You keep talking about the Preeminent as if she's good," Garmadon snapped. He could _feel_ the Great Devourer's venom stirring up his blood, making his temper rise. His face felt hot. He took a deep breath. "I don't understand. Whose side are you on?"

Nagisa waited a while to answer. And when she did, her words came slowly. "I am on the side of all who have been unjustly imprisoned in the Cursed Realm," she said. "And so was the Preeminent."

"But I thought the Preeminent-"

"You thought wrong," Morro said stoutly, ignoring his mother's gesture for silence. "Listen to me, old man. After my Sensei- _your_ brother- drove me away, and I was Cursed, the Preeminent is the one who took me in. She's the one who taught me how to survive in that wretched Realm." He pointed to his own chest. "And I helped her, too. We all worked together to fight the gangs, and to find a way home. And we'd almost done it, too."

"Morro," Nagisa said. "That's enough."

Still he ignored her. Snarling, Morro put his face close to Garmadon's. "How does that feel?" he asked. "To know that I _almost_ got you home to your family? How does it feel to know that your own son- the precious Green Ninja- is the one who destroyed our portal and sent all of us straight to our deaths?"

Garmadon stepped backwards, frowning. "My son did no such thing," he argued. He knew he was losing himself, but he didn't care. "You and your _Preeminent_ were trying to Curse all sixteen Realms. Lloyd and the Ninja did the worlds a favor."

"That's _enough_!" A thunderclap followed Nagisa's words, and she shoved Garmadon and Morro apart. Garmadon felt a cold, sharp spark as her hand pressed against his chest- he and Morro backpedalled with simultaneous yelps.

Blue light fizzled around Nagisa's hands, and she closed her fists as if to hide it. Her fair face twisted with enough anger to make Garmadon's hairs stand on end. This, more than anything else she had done so far, made Garmadon marvel at how different she had become in these last twenty years.

 _If she's Morro's mother,_ he thought, _then that means she must be the first Master of Wind. Was that blue light part of the Wind Element, somehow?_ It wasn't too far-fetched to assume so: in all the time Nagisa had been alive, she'd had ample time to refine her abilities.

Still, the fact that Garmadon did not recall her being an Elemental Master nagged at him. Had she kept it a secret? Or was something else at play?

"I'm sorry, Mother," Morro said. "I was out of line."

"You both were." Nagisa's expression softened. "Let us not speak of the Cursed Realm, or the Preeminent, again. Understood?"

"Yes," Morro said.

Nagisa turned her electric-blue eyes to Garmadon, staring at him until he nodded.

"Good," she said at last. "Come on. We must find Qiang."

* * *

 **I should go ahead and get this out of the way now and ease your minds: I plan to keep my OC count in this story to a minimum. Nagisa, Qiang, and a few others. But mostly, I'll be relying on cannon characters to get the job done.**

 **Also, this story is pre-season 6. No crazy four-armed Djinns, no pirates... And I hope, at least, that this story will not be as long as True Grit.**

 **I'll see you all soon for chapter 4! Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Reviews are appreciated. :)**


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